Posted on 11/16/2014 1:42:01 PM PST by NYer
You are saved, ping!
An excellent, brief exposition.
You have to be a Protestant!
Let me complete this sentence from what I've heard from Catholics:
I knew he had come to save us and I sure hoped that I would be saved from Purgatory. My understanding being that they do not go directly to be with the Lord, but go to purgatory to deal with their sins and to be called out of purgatory into Heaven by the Catholic Church. It is that last step that one is declared a Saint.
And just like it was stated there is only a hope and no assurance.
As for me I believe Christ's words "who ever believes in me has eternal life" (Gospel of John 6:47).
Now which would you like, assurance of Eternal Life or no assurance of Heaven? That it depends on human men on this earth or that it is the free gift for those who believe?
This article is like trying to explain the inner workings of an iPhone to someone who has never seen a telephone before.
In other words, do not underestimate what God as done through Jesus Christ or overestimate what any man must accomplish or understand in order to obtain and retain God’s matchless Gift of eternal life to all who accept Jesus’ finished work and lovingly receive Him and other believers in Christ.
Salvation is of God through Jesus Christ, not via the Church, the Body of believers, which He founded with only Himself as the Head. It’s so simple, a child can always find Him if he/she looks in His direction and comes to Him faithfully.
Question then becomes... can you lose your salvation?
If the answer is yes, then you cannot say you are or have been saved.... because you would lose it daily.
Yes, I am. But do I have the same understanding of its meaning now as when I was first baptized? No, I think I have a better understanding of it now than 50+ years ago.
Because Catholics never post threads about, or even think about Protestants PING
Ephesians 1:13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; (NRSV - Catholic Ed.)
and again...
Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. (NRSV - Catholic Ed.)
The believer is sealed in the Holy Spirit which cannot be broken, only by the one intended to open the sealed gift, which is Christ. So, it there any way one can lose their salvation? Jesus says this:
Matthew 12:31- 32 Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (NRSV - Catholic Ed.)
And how does one blaspheme against the Holy Spirit? It isn’t clearly explained but I believe it is to grieve the Spirit in some excessive way such as ascribing some evil to the Spirit or renouncing one’s salvation or perhaps committing suicide.
I don’t believe it can be lost for most common sins (I hate to categorize them as common because all sin is against God) but what good would it do for salvation to be turned on and off like a light switch based on your last thought or action? It would make any honest person incredibly anxious knowing their salvation can be easily lost with a momentary slip.
As I have aged, I believe all the more that our God sees us as the vulnerable short-sighted children that we are and that He has taken it upon Himself to see that our salvation is secure and the only way it can be lost is by some deliberate action of defiant rejection of God’s free gift.
A requirement of confession and absolution for every common transgression would lose every soul that died suddenly by a bullet, a plane crash, a heart attack or car accident that had no time to seek a priest before they expired.
Perhaps this explains why so many ex-Catholics, tired of living under constant eternal uncertainty, seek relief through a church that believes God knows our lives from beginning to end and forgives generously, with rare exception, to all those who earnestly seek Him.
No, that is inaccurate. The Church teaches that upon death men either go to hell or they are saved and go to heaven because the sanctifying grace is in them. Those who are saved, yet are incapable of entering heaven directly (There shall not enter into it any thing defiled, Apoc. 21:27) pass through purgatory, indeed, but that condition is temporary and those in purgatory are saved already.
Psalm 103:8-14 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.
**I knew he had come to save us and I sure hoped that I would be saved from Purgatory. My understanding being that they do not go directly to be with the Lord, but go to purgatory to deal with their sins and to be called out of purgatory into Heaven by the Catholic Church. It is that last step that one is declared a Saint.**
A couple of things are mixed up here.
No one is called out of Purgatory and sent to heaven by the Catholic Church. Each person’s individual life history defines their length of time to stay in Purgatory and be purged of all sin by making reparations that they did not do on earth.
The process of being declared a saint is a four step process: being pronounced a person of goodness (Servant of God), venerable (approved for study into the matter of sainthood), blessed (beatified), saint (canonized).
http://www.catholicdoors.com/faq/qu221.htm
Yes, I am saved.
However, I know I am a sinner and need to cleanse myself from personal sin through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Catholics like to confuse the unknowing by saying they were" born again in baptism " , but the truth is a catholic does not know if they are "saved" until they meet the judge ... This is just word games
But the real interesting question is saved from what?
.
But that does not align with what the Bible teaches.
John 3And as for being in Hell
[13] And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
Revelation 20:
[4] And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
[5] But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.
So who can be in Heaven?
Or Hell?
.
>> “But the real interesting question is saved from what?” <<
.
The second death!
.
.
But here is what Yeshua said to Nicodemus about being “Born Again:”
John 3:
[6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
[7] Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
[8] The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth:
so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Have any of these claiming to have been "Born of the Spirit" ever walked invisibly through a room, like the wind?
.
“The Church teaches that upon death men either go to hell or they are saved and go to heaven because the sanctifying grace is in them.”
**
Well, that is what we Catholics believe. You are free to believe it or not.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.